The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-02-24

our place in the train. What is that depot as
compared with the place for which we are
bound? How, my friends, this world is only
stopping place on the way to a momentous des- |
tination, and yet how many of us sit down as
though we had consummated our journey as
though we had come to the final depot, when
our stopping here is as compared with our
stopping there as is twenty minutes to twelve
hours--yea, as the one hundredth part of a
second compared with ten thousand million !
years Would Spain sell us Cuba for a
bushel of wheat? Would England sell lis
India for ton of coal? Would Venice sell
us all her pictures for an American school
boys sketch? All! that would be a better
bargain for England, Spain and Venice
than that man makes who gives his
eternity for time. Yet how many there
are who are saying to-day: "Give ne the
worlds dollars and you may have the eternal
rewards. Give me the worlds applause and
you may have the garlands OF God. Give
me twenty, or forty, or sixty years Of worldly
successes and l don't care what becomes of
the future. I am going into that world un
insured. l take the responsibility. Don't
bother me about your religion. Here have
the two worlds before me-this one and the
next. [ have chosen this. Go away from
me, God and angels, and all thoughts Of the
future!"
But where is Crosus, and Cleopatra, and
AIsopas, who had one dish of food that cost
81 400, 900; and LenJulus, who had pond of
fish worth s175,0 900; and Scaurus. who bought
a country seat for S29,0O0,000; and
Tiberius, who left at death for
tune Of S11S, 10000? Where are they?
If q windy day should blow all the dust that
Is left of them into your eyes, it would not
make you wink twice All, my friends, then
very certainly your comforts of surrounding
cannot keep back the old archer. You can
not charm him with music or dazzle him
with plate, or decoy him with pictures, or
bribe him with your money.
What is the use of your struggling for that
which you cannot keep? As long as you
have clothes and food and shelter and educa-
ton for yourselves and your children and the
means for Christian generosity, be satisfied.
You worry, and tug, and sweat, and wear
yourself out for that which cannot satisfy
Whole flocks of crows feet on your temples
and cheeks before they ought to have come
there. You are ten years older than you
ought to be, and yet you cannot take along
with you into the future world even
the two pennies on your eyelids to keep them
shut after you are dead And yet you hold
on to this world with the avidity of the niser
who persisted in having his bonds and mort
cages and notes Of hand in the bosom of his
dressing gown while he was dying, and in the
last moment held his parchment in such a
tight grip that the undertaken after death
must almost break the mans fingers in
order to get the bonds away Men
are actually making that choice, while there
others who have done far differently.
When they tried to bribe with money Martin
Luther, some one said: "Theres no use trying
to do that-that Dutch beast cares nothing
for gold" When they tried by giving him
cardinals hat, to bribe Savonarola, he stood
up in his pulpit and cried out: II will have
no red hat, save that of martyrdom, colored
with my own blood" These men chose
Christ amid great prosecutions; but how
many there are in this day. when Chris
tianity seems to be popular, who are ashamed
of Christ and not willing to take the hard
ships-the seeming hardships-of His reIig-
ion. And alas for them! for long after the
crash of the worlds demolition, they shall
find that in all these years they were turning
their backs upon the palaces of heaven, scrab-
bling on the door of this worlds treasure
house, the saliva of a terrific lunacy on their
lips-horribly and overwhelmingly playing
the fool.
Once more l say to you that those men
play the fool who, while they admit the
Righteousness of religion, sat it down for fu-
ture attendance. Do you know how many
times the word "now" occurs in the Bible?
Over 200 times. One of the shortest words in
the Bible, and yet ono of the grandest in
meaning and ramifcations. When does
the Bible say is the best time to re-
pent? Now When does the Bible
say that God will forgive? Now. When
does God say is the only safe time to
attend to the matters of the soul? Now.
But that word snow" meits away as easily as
a snowflake in the evening rain. Where is
the "now" of the dead last years the snow"
Of tho dead of last month? the "now" of the
dead of last week? the "now" of the dead of
yesterday? Time picked it up in its bealz
and few away with it. Swammerdam md
other naturalists tell us there are insects which
within the space of one minute are born,
fulfill their mission, celebrate their puptiaIs
and die; but this wonderful stnown is more
shortlived than they. 1t is flash, a stroke,
a glance Its cradle is its grave If men
catch it at all, it is with quick clutch Mil
lions of men have lost their soul immortal be-
cause they did not understand the momentum
and the ponderosity of that one word All
the strategic powers of hell are exerted
in trying to subtract from the energy
and emphases of that word. They say it is
only word of three letters, while there is n
better word of eight letters-''to morrow"
They say: "Throw away that small word and
take this other grand one;" and so men say:
"Give US tomorrow and take away from us
'now;' and between those two words is the
Appian way of death, and a great multitude
throng that road, jostling and elbowing each
other fastening on swifter and swifter 60
die. For how much would YOU walk
the edge of the roof of your house?
For how much would you come out
on the most dangerous peak Of the Matter
horn and wave your cap? You say: "No
money could induce me to do it." And vet
you stand to-day, with one foot on a crumb-
ling moment and the other foot lifted, not
knowing where you will put it down, while
the distance between you and the bottom of
the depth beneath you no plummet can
measure, no arithmetic calculate, no
wing of lightning cleave. And yet, the
Bible tells US that unless a nan
has a new heart he cannot get into
heaven; and some Of you are not seeking for
tha. new heart. In Mexico, sometimes the
ground suddenly opens, and man standing
near the gap can see down an appalling dis
tance. But, o! if to-day, at your feet, there
should open the cbasms of the lost world. how
yoa would fling yourself back and hold the
pew, and cry: "God save me-nowi nowI
| nowl"
greet you to-day, my brother, in the very
gate of eternity. Some of us may live a
longer and some of us may live q shorter
time; but, at the longest, life is so short that
feel we all stand on the doorsill of the great
future The next step-all the angels of God
| cannot undo the consequences. VIII your
exit from this life be rising or a fallinga
The righteous go up. The Saviour helps them
MiniStering spirits meet them The doors of
paradise open to receive them. Upl up! upl o,
u grand thing it is to die with strong faith
in God, like that which Stonewall jackson
had, when, in his expiring moments, he said:
"Let Us cross over the river, and lie down
under th- shade" But to leave this world
| unprepaIedly is falling-falling from God,
falling frcm hope, falling from peace, falling